When the Bitcoin Foundation fell apart and funding for Bitcoin core development was needed, the MIT founded the Digital Currency Initiative to step in. In the years since, the DCI has evolved into a vibrant center of cutting edge research on some of the most difficult challenges around blockchain technology.

DCI Director Neha Narula joined us to discuss the DCI’s position between academia and industry, their policy on conflicts of interest, and their most fascinating research topics.

Topics discussed in this episode:

How her interest in distributed systems and scaling lead led her to the blockchain space

The mission and history of the MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative

How cryptocurrency might evolve over time as an academic field

The DCI’s project on digital fiat currency

How zkLedger could enable privacy-preserving auditing for distributed ledgers

Why sharding is unlikely to succeed in the short- and medium term

Why Neha is most optimistic about layer 2 approaches to scaling like lightning network

The story of discovering and writing about IOTA’s vulnerability

How DCI handles conflicts of interest and strives for neutrality

Links mentioned in this episode:

Support the show, consider donating:

This episode is also available on :

Watch or listen, Epicenter is available wherever you get your podcasts.